From explorers to evangelists: Archivists, recordkeeping, and remembering in the pacific islands |
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| Authors: | Evelyn Wareham |
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| Institution: | (1) International Council on Archives, 60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, 75003 Paris, France |
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| Abstract: | With a central focus on thecultural contexts of Pacific island societies,this essay examines the entanglement ofcolonial power relations in local recordkeepingpractices. These cultural contexts include theon-going exchange between oral and literatecultures, the aftermath of colonialdisempowerment and reassertion of indigenousrights and identities, the difficulty ofmaintaining full archival systems in isolated,resource-poor  micro-states, and the drivinginfluence of development theory. The essayopens with a discussion of concepts ofexploration and evangelism in cross-culturalanalysis as metaphors for archival endeavour. It then explores the cultural exchanges betweenoral memory and written records, orality, andliteracy, as means of keeping evidence andremembering. After discussing the relation ofrecords to processes of political and economicdisempowerment, and the reclaiming of rightsand identities, it returns to the patterns ofarchival development in the Pacific region toconsider how archives can better integrate intotheir cultural and political contexts, with theaim of becoming more valued parts of theircommunities. |
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| Keywords: | archival theory archives and colonialism indigenous identities and record keeping oral and literate cultures Pacific Island archives |
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